Pertamina proposes development of two oil fields in Iran

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- PT Pertamina officially submitted a proposal for the development of two oil and gas fields in Iran, Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, each with an estimated reserve of 1.5 billion barrels.

Upstream Director of the state energy company Syamsu Alam handed over the proposal to Deputy on Engineering and Development of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Gholamreza Manoucherhri witnessed by Coordinating Minister for Economy Darmin Nasution, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namzar Zanganeh, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar, and Indonesian Ambassador to Iran Octavino Alimudin.

"For around four months Pertamina conducted technical evaluation of the two oil and gas fields and now we submit the proposal to develop the two oil and gas fields to the NIOC," Syamsu Alam said in a written statement available in Jakarta on Monday.

Syamsu said the proposal was a follow up step of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies on August 8, 2016. Based on the MoU , Pertamina was given an opportunity to submit proposal to develop the Ab-Teymour and Mansouri oil and gas fields by the end of February 2017.

Pertamina hopes that the proposal would serve as a base for direct negotiations by the two companies on the management of the two oil and gas fields. Technical evaluation by Pertamina showed that two oil fields, which are located in Bangestan, southern Iran, has an estimated reserve of more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil each with potential production of more than 200,000 barrels each per day.

Iran holds the 4th largest oil reserves in the world with proven oil reserves of 157 billion barrels or around 9.3 percent of the world's proven reserves. Iran also has the world's largest proven gas reserve of 1,200 TCF or 18.2 percent of the world's total proven gas reserves.

After the lifting of the Iranian sanction , that country plans to increase its oil production from 3.4 million barrels per day at present to 4.7 million barrels in the next five years. Therefore, that country has invited international oil and gas companies to invest in its oil industry through tender and bilateral agreement.

"The two fields have a promising potentials and in line with its program, Pertamina would continue to aggressively develop its upstream oil business abroad as a strategic step to strengthen the country energy resilience," Syamsu Alam said.